Finalists decided at Trofeo della Mole

MATCH REPORT

Joachim Gerard (BEL)

Gustavo Fernandez of Argentina and Joachim Gerard of Belgium will meet for the fifth time this season on Saturday when they contest the men’s singles final at the Trofeo della Mole, part of the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour, while Sharon Walraven of the Netherlands and Marianna Lauro of Italy will go head-to-head in the women’s singles final in Torino, which will again be contested by the top two seeds.

Sixth seed Lahcen Majdi of France prevented an all-Argentinean semifinal in the men’s singles after defeating fourth seed Agustin Ledesma 75 64, but Majdi proved no match for world No. 5 Fernandez in Friday’s semfinals as the top seed advanced 60 60 to reach the final for the loss of just four games in three matches.

Second seed Gerard and third seed Martin Legner of Austria eased into the last four, but were then involved in a remarkable match that Gerard eventually won in tight third set 60 57 75 to maintain his hopes of adding to the Ath Open title that he won last weekend.

The fourth seed also missed out on a place in the women’s singles semifinals after fifth seed Stefania Galletti of Italy beat Pauline Helouin of France 61 36 62. But hopes of an all-Italian final ended when Galletti slipped to a 62 61 loss to Dutch top seed Sharon Walraven.

The other semifinal was much closer as Lauro and Bianca Osterer of Germany exchanged two tight sets, but Lauro dominated the final set to progress 63 46 61.

The men’s doubles final came to a thrilling climax as top seeds Legner and Fabian Mazzei of Italy got the better of second seeds Fernandez and Ledesma 61 36 13-11 after a match tiebreak.

Lauro and Osterer paired up to win the women’s doubles, but they faced surprise finalists after Claudia Commijs and Judith Sanders beat seconds seeds Sophie Fraioli of France and Annabelle Ribeaud of Switzerland 75 61 in the quarterfinals and then beat another higher ranked partnership in the semifinals.

However, the final proved to be a different proposition as Lauro and Osterer lived up to their top seeding to win 62 61.